A wildfire raging out of control along southern Spain's Costa del Sol has killed one man, injured several and forced the evacuation of thousands on the edge of the tourist resort of Marbella.

More than 300 firefighters were battling the flames, which had spread several miles along hilly ground behind the coast, and 31 planes and helicopters were dumping water on the blaze.

"The fire is horrific, with flames 10 to 15 metres high," Angel Nozal, the mayor of Mijas, an inland town between Marbella and Malaga, told the national daily El País.

The charred body of an elderly man was found in a tool shed near Ojen, north of Marbella, and a man and a woman in their 50s were taken to the city's Costa del Sol hospital after suffering serious burns, the regional government of Andalucía said.

The fire broke out on Thursday outside the mountain town of Coin, before racing westwards through tinder-dry hilly countryside, fanned by strong winds and high temperatures.

Malaga wildfires Photograph: Graphic

Thousands of people had to be hurriedly evacuated to a sports centre when the fire reached housing estates on the outskirts of Marbella. Two roads near the city were closed because of the fire but authorities said one had been reopened.

José Antonio Grinan, president of the regional government of Andalucía, said two people were being treated in hospital for burns and bruises.

The regional interior ministry official José Luis Ruiz Espejo said firefighters suspected arson as the cause of the fire. Grinan said if this suspicion was proved it would be "a criminal act". Speaking on Cadena SER radio, Ruiz Espejo said one of the injured was in a serious condition.

Fernando Fernández, mayor of the popular whitewashed hillside tourist destination town of Mijas, said many residents had been evacuated, but strong east winds had "fortunately for us, swept the fire westwards, towards Marbella".

A dry winter followed by a scorching hot summer has left much of southern Spain tinder dry. The country has seen 580 sq miles of land burned in nearly 12,000 wildfires so far this year.

"This is without a doubt the worst fire we've had in Malaga," Elias Bendodo, president of Malaga council, told Spanish national radio. "Thousands of people have been evacuated … Two people are definitely injured and … lots of houses have suffered damage."